EDIT: Being a foster parent is a calling

Published: Friday, June 7, 2013 at 12:34 PM.

But – please! – don’t let those high standards be an excuse for not taking the plunge to be a foster parent.

Today, we salute those already taking on this tremendous work. Our guess is that current foster parents would wave off such praise and say something like: “We have received far more from these children than we have given to them.”

And to those who have felt that twinge of calling deep inside their souls we say this: Now is the time. Our children need you. Please answer the call.

Star Publisher Skip Foster enjoys relaying a story told to him by the principal at Jefferson Elementary:

The end-of-school car-rider procedure is for Jefferson students to congregate in the lunchroom – siblings obviously sit together. They wait for the teacher outside with a microphone to call their names, then head outside to be picked up. In this case, the announcement would be “Foster children, Lane 1,” and so on.

Anyway, one day, another student approached the principal and asked if she could so something nice for those two boys, because she felt sorry for them because they were foster children and didn’t have a parent of their own.

The principal smiled and was able to explain the difference between foster children (lowercase F) and the children of the Fosters.

We are reminded of that story as we read the article on the front of Monday’s Star describing gap between the number of foster children in our system and the number of foster homes.

The reality that the American family is in crisis is no better illustrated than in Cleveland County were a shocking 235 children are in DSS custody – that’s more than Lincoln and Rutherford counties combined and is more than in Gaston County, which has twice the population.

The reason for this high number is a topic for another day, but whatever the reason, these children are in desperate need of love and attention and caring.

With such a large number of children displaced from their families, it’s not surprising that there is a shortage of available foster parents to take in these children.

To be sure, being a foster parent is a calling – just like couples make a deliberate and prayerful decision to try to have children, the same process is often followed for those considering getting into foster parenting.

And the screening process is, thankfully, rigorous.

But what a reward!

Successful foster parents often open up paths for children that previously didn’t exist. While a few foster parents end up adopting the children they have taken in, most often they are constructing a bridge toward a more stable family life with either rehabilitated biological parents, next of kin or adoptive parents.

Surely there are special places in heaven for those who take on this work – we hear a lot about the protection of our planet’s natural resources. But is there any resource more precious than our children?

As we mentioned the path is not easy. Nor should it be. Prospective foster parents must undergo thorough background checks, training and vetting. And we should want it no other way – those caring for children caught in a limbo not of their choosing should meet the highest community standards.

But – please! – don’t let those high standards be an excuse for not taking the plunge to be a foster parent.

Today, we salute those already taking on this tremendous work. Our guess is that current foster parents would wave off such praise and say something like: “We have received far more from these children than we have given to them.”

And to those who have felt that twinge of calling deep inside their souls we say this: Now is the time. Our children need you. Please answer the call.